Dr. S. Nalin Vimal Kumar, Director, SNS Group of institutions
A firm believer that creativity and innovation are fundamental to all academic disciplines, Nalin S, Director, SNS Institutions, Coimbatore shares his thoughts on AI/DS, the challenges and what the future holds.
The CBSE is keen on introducing AI/DS. Tell us about the challenges in implementation in schools.
Skilling the present teaching fraternity with AI/DS has to be the prime focus. Future Skills Prime, a MeitY-NASSCOM Digital Initiative, has taken all essential steps in bringing in global and national partners to upskill the entire nation in several innovation technologies & topics, especially AI/DS. Swayam Central, NPTEL MooC Platform, as well had geared up to upskill the nation’s educators and many. So, we are all just at the right spot (partially grown and actively growing state).
The education sector has been slow in the uptake of AI/DS. Your comments.
Normally the sector by itself adopts things in a slow-observe- understand – react pace. It is primarily because any change directly impacts the growth of the younger generation and it determines the future of the world. So AI/DS is likely to take the same track. Lack of experts, even in the industries, has played its part too. The next decade (2021- 2030) is going to take up the speed that the education sector has never faced before. Partially, thanks to COVID-19 for bringing digitalization into part of every teacher’s lifestyle.
Take us through the technology interventions at SNS, especially the adoption of AI/DS
We, at SNS, started to redesign the entire learning gamut; by moving from traditional learning to problem based learning, then shifted our attention from problem based learning to problem discovery. Once the problem is rightfully discovered, defined, ideation with conceptual learning along with technological application – brings the perfect solution (through several iterations and reflections).
AI/DS is one of the five innovation technologies SNS adopted across the group, which now plays the central part of all other technologies. Educating AI/DS skill sets across the group in partnership with Future Skills Prime (a MeitY-NASSCOM Digital Initiative) has been given maximum thrust and SNS has upskilled thousands of students and teachers over the past one year.
AI/DS is going to permeate all sectors, more so education. How is it going to help especially in personalized education?
AI/DS is going to add value in all dimensions of our life. Having an assistive brain power to guide even in our education, based on our behavior & educational characteristic patterns, will certainly help; why not take advantage of it. Privacy, security and safety of it intervening in our personal space is going to be another whole new chapter to discuss and bring striking solutions.
Teachers have been reluctant to adopt technology. What are the initiatives taken at SNS to tackle this?
SNS is blessed with wonderful teaching minds. Our faculty engaged with constant changes and improvement year after year to meet the demanding innovative younger student minds. So, adoption of anything for the benefit of students is no new for SNS Team. Covid-19 brought tremendous technological upliftment in the minds of the teaching fraternity.
How does the Design Thinking (DT) framework of SNS ensure best practices of the Industry?
Creativity and innovation are fundamentals to all academic disciplines and these two elements are driven by Design Thinking. SNS DT framework is customized and is based on industry requirements which is reviewed and validated by industry experts in order to ensure the syllabus is relevant to changing technology trends and evolving needs of the Industry.
Students are given the opportunity to discover problems & projects associated with their field relevant industries guided by an Industry expert. Extensive research activities are carried out in Innovation Hub (iHub) where knowledge becomes skill, enabling students to apply their engineering skills to address real-time problems fostering collaborative learning between the industries and students.
Can students of ece | eee, mech | auto | aero | mct, civil, agri | food tech, biomed pick CSE or Core Stream? Also, what are the job prospects and package?
Absolutely, you must select Core Stream. Yes, you will get the core job. But the salary for freshers with basic UG degree will be 1.8 LPA to 2.4 LPA. However, if you are truly talented, the salary might start from 2.4 LPA. In case you hold skills on core specific tools, then you will be starting from 3 LPA onwards, depending on the company it will be even higher.
What should I need to do to get a salary above 4-5 LPA in the Core Industry?
There are many ways you can position yourself to land up a job in Core Industry with 4.5 LPA and above. One which is in the top of list is: Learn Core skill combined with AI/Data Science.
Which core industry is the best industry & how?
Every industry has its own advantage. You have to find which core stream matches your interest and triggers curiosity. For instance, if you like to play around with drones, pick aerospace or aeronautical. If you like to work with vehicles, pick the automobile stream. In case you like constructions, interiors, properties, then we recommend you choose civil.
Now your mind might be wondering, will I be able to land up with the best recruiter? Answer is YES. You have to position yourself well with the skill mentioned in previous question.
For instance, if you study aerospace engineering; then with AI/Data Science skill set, then you will be able to position yourself as an aerospace engineer providing AI/DS based solutions as below: Intelligent Air traffic monitoring, Enhance Autopilot, and many more.
For instance, if you study Biomedical engineering; then with AI/Data Science skill set, then, you will be able to position yourself as an Biomed engineer providing AI/DS based solutions as below: Automated Accurate Diagnostics, Predictive Care, Proactive Treatment Strategy, Drug Discovery & Combination, Suggestive Medical Therapy, Predict Disease & save lives
What are the Top Recruiters of the Core Industry based DS?
For a biomedical engineer with AI/DS skill set, GE, GSK, Sanofi, Siemens, Dr.Reddys, Sun Pharma, Pfizer are few top recruiters. For an aerospace engineer with AI/DS skill set, ISRO, NASA, BOEING, Collins AeroSpace, SpaceX are few top recruiters.
